Romania was created when the Ottoman vassal states of
Moldavia and
Wallachia were united 1861, they had already been in a personal union since
1859. Full independence from the Ottoman Empire was achieved 1878 and two
years later was Romania recognised as a kingdom, the coronation of prince Karol
to king occurred in 1881. Romania participated in the First World War and won
Transylvania and Bessarabia, which meant that all lands populated by Romanians
was then a part of Romania. But Bessarabia was later lost to the Soviet Union
during the Second World War.